Strawberries in the U.S. will be incredibly slim in supply in the near future. "The next two weeks are double red alert for strawberry supply. It's going to be very, very, very tight," says Steve Johnston of G.W. Palmer & Co. Inc.
This follows a significant rain storm from Salinas, California through to Baja South and in all, up to five inches of rain are predicted over the next four days following the rain that's already fallen. "The system coming through has a bull's eye on Southern California, which is wetter than normal right now. Strawberries were already in tight supply and now we're going into one of the lightest periods I've experienced in many years," says Johnston. "This is a major event."
Supply already out of California is light at this time of year and new plantings aren't expected to come on until the start of the new year. Meanwhile on the other side of the country, Florida is just "scratching" or beginning its harvest. It's not expected to see good volume until at least after Thanksgiving.
© G.W. Palmer
Production in Mexico
As for Mexico, what's coming right now is about half a million flats of strawberries a day–hardly enough to supply the needs of the entire U.S.
With supply-driven demand and with what supply exists largely expected to go to pre-committed contracts, markets are up to $30-$35–last year at this time, pricing was around $25.
So for now, California growers will post-rain focus on stripping the fields to remove strawberries that are about to rot to keep the fields clean. Following that, immature ones will be waited upon to turn red and picked.
However, in Florida there's optimism around its weather. "It's been pretty nice and there will be ideal growing conditions in Florida for the next 10 days," adds Johnston.
For more information:
Steve Johnston
G.W. Palmer & Co., Inc.
Tel: +1 (831) 753-6578
[email protected]
http://www.gwpalmer.net/
